If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

U.S.A. Culture and Language Help - II

This is the thread to ask question about American culture. You can find the first thread here

The last question that was asked was by Celtic_Jewel and she asked:

Originally Posted by Celtic_Jewel

Hi, I was wondering, what would you call your grandparents? For instance, I call them Grandma and Grandad, but my cousins all call my Grandma Nana. In a few books, I've read of the grandfather being called 'Pop', but I'm not sure how true that is. The family is in Florida, by the way.

Any help would be amazing,
-Ema

The answers she received were:

Originally Posted by Inverarity

"Pop" is usually used for your father, not your grandfather. But some people call their grandfather "Grandpop."

It's somewhat regional. Grandma/Grandpa is most common, but Gramma/Grampa is used in some areas (that's really a variant pronunciation rather than a different word, though). Grandfather/Grandmother would be very formal as a way to address your own grandparents. "Gramps" for Grandfather is also sometimes used, though it's very informal/diminutive, and only used if you can get away with being that affectionate (or disrespectful).

I know some Southerners, but not all, use "Nana" for grandmother. I don't know how common that is.

One thing you won't hear in the U.S. is "Grandmum." But sometimes "Grandmom."

Originally Posted by OliveOil_Med

But also, just like Nana is a less common used word, you might also hear Papi for their grandfather.

And if it helps, Gramma and Grampa is considered somewhat of a Midwestern or rural variant of Grandma and Grandpa. Some families even invent their own words for their grandparents.

Originally Posted by mahogany_wand

Personally, I call my grandparents "Grandma" and "Grandpa". I have heard of grandmothers being called Nana, so that's pretty common too. "Pop" was used back in the 18-1900s, although people still use it in the deep south. Not us northerners, though.

Originally Posted by Celtic_Jewel
Hi, I was wondering, what would you call your grandparents? For instance, I call them Grandma and Grandad, but my cousins all call my Grandma Nana. In a few books, I've read of the grandfather being called 'Pop', but I'm not sure how true that is. The family is in Florida, by the way.

Any help would be amazing,
-Ema

I am on the west coast and the majority of people use Grandma and Grandpa.

Maybe if you told us what part of the U.S. you're looking into, we might be able to give you a better idea of the words you will need. We might even be able to give you some other help with regional dialect.

Parts of Florida use a Southern dialect, while other parts (around the big cities, down in the Keys, etc.) are more metropolitan and use the "standard" dialect mostly heard on TV (what I call "West Coast news anchor dialect").

What are some likely languages a newspaper could be translatered to in the United States? I'm thinking of creating a spell spell that, when cast over one of the American newspaper, it will translate into a different language, depending on the variation of the spell. These are the languages I have listed right now, but I want to get a good list written for the spell chart.

English

Spanish

French

German

Arabic

Chinese

Japanese

Korean

Portuguese

Italian

Danish

Norwegian

Swedish

Finnish

Russian

Romanian

Swahili

Hindi

Vietnamese

Polish

Hebrew

Can anyone think of any other likely suspects? I want to get as complete a feeling list as I can. I'll probably never use it, but I just feel secure in having a good back-reference.

What are some likely languages a newspaper could be translatered to in the United States? I'm thinking of creating a spell spell that, when cast over one of the American newspaper, it will translate into a different language, depending on the variation of the spell. These are the languages I have listed right now, but I want to get a good list written for the spell chart.

Can anyone think of any other likely suspects? I want to get as complete a feeling list as I can. I'll probably never use it, but I just feel secure in having a good back-reference.

This is what I have come up with so far. I will edit my post if I think of any more.

Tagalog
Chinese should be broken down into Mandarin and Cantonese.
Taiwanese
Tongan
Icelandic